We've had a little car trouble for the last few days and due to this I've not made it to the cinema to see the new movies dominating Instagram and therefore have not crafted new content. There's only so many #tbts in the woodwork and I don't really wanna use them all, so I trawled Netflix's trending category and came across some horrific true crime documentaries.
I don't massively like crafting a review on someone's real life story, I get a bit icky as I feel like I'm saying their life wasn't cinematic enough when that isn't the case at all. But I'm expanding my palate so to speak and I've fallen down the true crime rabbit hole so here we are. However, I want it known that in no way, shape, or form is my opinion based on what has happened here, the review is for the story telling and how the documentary has handled it, not the subject matter as that is horrendous and a woman lost her life here.
I hate that I have to justify this for myself, you guys know I'm not reviewing a murder. Anyway, Body in the Bin: The Murder of Louise Kam was a painfully gripping 44 minutes. I was in shock the entire time as I learnt how two young men conned and murdered this 71 year old woman. It was only two years ago and yet I never heard of it in the news or anything, it's a sad day when you only find out about a murder due to it trending on Netflix.
Louise Kam was a 71 year old lady who had Chinese origins and a few properties. She'd down well for herself and was able to live comfortably. She was introduced to a young man who fooled her into thinking he was in the property business and offered her a deal for her properties way above market prices. He was merely a kebab chef and he along with a friend he allowed to squat in Louise's house while he conned it from her, murdered her.
What shook me the most was the fact that one of the murderers continued to use social media to dance and create fun reels hours after he'd taken a life. Neither man cared, it was clear from the video footage of them continuing as normal that there was no recognition that a life had been taken and that was wrong. They dumped her in a wheelie bin. It's disgusting how little respect they gave her even after they killed her.
The documentary is extremely gentle when talking about Louise. We don't delve into her history or her private life, there is no blame laid at her door unlike other true crime investigations I've seen where they try to say the victim could have avoided their fate. No, this one could only speculate as to why Louise ended up caught in this trap which led to her demise as no one will ever know for sure. But they handled that well, as I said, no blame, just perspective from those being interviewed as to what they thought could have happened.
It was nice to see different people being interviewed but all having the same opinion that these men didn't get a long enough sentence. A minimum of 35 years, the film really laid it on thick the bias for the victim and I think that's refreshing. Films try to stay so impassive when dealing with difficult subject matter but this one you could tell just by the interviewees views what way the editors thought.
I did feel that 44 minutes wasn't long enough though. I'm in two minds about that however. No one really wants to give murderers the limelight, they don't deserve it and it glorifies what they've done. They shouldn't get fame, they took a life. But on the other hand, we've reduced someone's tragic death to 44 minutes and at the end of the day it barely touched on her, we explored her murderers and their motives for ending her life, this was sadly never about Louise, this became their story.
I would have liked some form of justice for her through this film. A tribute if you will. It's marketed as her story but the fact is it was just a film on how she met her end and the people that put her in a bin. She deserved so much more, I think perhaps we should have talked about her a bit more. But these documentaries are a hard thing to get right. You've got to respect the dead while also trying to starve the attention from those who did it. It would really be better off if these films weren't made at all, but then how do we remember those we've lost? It's a lose-lose.
I think this documentary, while short and sweet, was a mixed bag of things and not a lot of them good. My heart goes out to Louise and her family and the notion of what happened here pains me, but while I did watch this doc, I feel like it shouldn't have been made. Murder sells sadly, and we focused on the killers and not the victim which is no way to tell their story. But a murder is rarely about the victim and all about the killer and that's the sad reality.
I'm giving this documentary a 6/10. I felt like we should have gotten to know Louise more. We didn't get to see much of what she looked like and to be honest we didn't really get to know her at all. The key here is always to get to know the victim in order to feel for them, this film failed as it focused on the killers and almost tried to justify their actions because one was homeless and illegal. It then very quickly switched its tune to side with the victim when really there should have been no side at all. A woman died they killed her. But we only ever got to see a snapshot of her face and we now know her name. It's like seeing a stranger in passing. Someone should share Louise Kam with the world so they get to know how bright a light she was before she was cruelly snuffed out. Not that it matters how kind and caring and beautiful she was as a death of any person isn't okay, but she deserves to be heard and known and I just don't feel like this film gave her a voice, it left me feeling uncomfortable and sad.
As I said, reviews on subjects like these are a little awkward for me, but I watched this media and it's out there to be reviewed, I just feel horrible that Louise Kam has been reduced to a documentary that markets her as a body in a bin. Decorum was not had here and I'll admit I've taken a little umbridge over it.
You may see some more true crime documentaries pop up however you may not, I'm not comfortable reviewing this genre of documentary but sometimes you've got to do what makes you uncomfortable in order to be heard, and someone has to speak for those without a voice. So watch this space to see where I find myself next!
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